Monday, February 6, 2012

Psalm 119 - Week 4

Listen to this song. It is so appropriate for this section of this Psalm. And after all Psalms are songs. We all fall into times where we feel like we may drown or fall apart but this next section is helpful for us in those times. It gives us hope. The Psalmist remembers His God and the promises in His word despite the circumstances. We would be good to do this as well. God is the same, He does not change.

The Treasury of David by Spurgeon says this of this section, " Here, it seems to me, we have the Psalmist
in trouble bewailing the bondage to earthly things in which he finds his
mind to be held. His soul cleaves to the dust, melts for heaviness, and
cries for enlargement from its spiritual prison. In these verses we
shall see the influence of the divine word upon a heart which laments
its downward tendencies, and is filled with mourning because of its
deadening surroundings."

DalethMy soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!

Honestly we cannot have life to the full unless we are living by His word. It is never about restrictions but true freedom. It is truth that sets us free, His word is truth. We can truly fly when we abide by it. However, this truth cannot be understood unless by a person who is truly redeemed by His blood.

1-Give an example when you felt your soul clinging to the dust and then how God's word revived your spirit.

When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes!
Confession is so healing. Here the psalmist is finding freedom in it. For God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. I find it much easier to work with those who are humble than those who are proud. Do you find this to be true as well?Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
Truth is we cannot fully understand God's word without the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He will reveal these truths to us. Because the Word is a living word the Spirit will reveal more and more to us as we grow to deeper understanding of His word. We must pray and ask God to help us understand and how we can apply His words to our lives. Also we must pray that we love it.

My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!
In sorrow we can truly find rest and peace in His word. It does strengthen us!

2-Give and example of a particular passage that has strengthened you.

Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law!
My pastor shared an interesting Scripture the other day and it applies here. This is God speaking, "It is I who kept you from sinning against me" (Genesis 20:6). This struck my heart deeply. We do have a personal responsibility to take the way out when we are tempted to sin (1 Corinthians 10:13). Yet God can also keep us from sinning. We must pray for God to, "Lead us not to temptation" yet God never tempts us to sin personally (James 1:13). Interesting. And as I stated above we must ask Him to reveal His truth to us. To teach us. We are blessed on this side of the cross because we have the Holy Spirit to teach us.

I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me.
We do indeed have a choice and it would be good to follow in the psalmists footsteps and chose the way of faithfulness. That is one thing that God does give us, the right to chose. We have a freewill. He did not want robots. He wants us and true relationship with people who truly love Him for Him. To truly love Him we must set His word before us. May it be our delight!

I cling to your testimonies, O LORD; let me not be put to shame!
If we truly cling to Him and His ways we will not be put to shame. Regardless. We must trust this and that His was is right. As stated before we must be diligent about keeping His commands. Even when it is difficult.

I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!
I will end with Spurgeon here. About this verse he says, "When thou shalt enlarge my heart. Yes, the
heart is the master; the feet soon run when the heart is free and
energetic. Let the affections be aroused and eagerly set on divine
things, and our actions will be full of force, swiftness, and delight.
God must work in us first, and then we shall will and do according to
his good pleasure. He must change the heart, unite the heart, encourage
the heart, strengthen the heart, and enlarge the heart, and then the
course of the life will be gracious, sincere, happy, and earnest; so
that from our lowest up to our highest state in grace we must attribute
all to the free favour of our God. We must run; for grace is not an
overwhelming force which compels unwilling minds to move contrary to
their will: our running is the spontaneous leaping forward of a mind
which has been set free by the hand of God, and delights to show its
freedom by its bounding speed."

Last week we did not get as much comment participation though I know people are viewing this. Please feel free to enter into the discussion! We need one another. Praying for each of you!!

2 comments:

Matthew Henry say of verse 25:" the reminders of in-dwelling corruption are a very grevious burden to a gracious petition for relief". So, therefore, I see that when we find ourselves in apathy, or wavering or questioning our walk, we must go to God and beg for him to work in us. God's word must be our guide in our begging and in every prayer.

One verse of scripture that has helped me over and over is Isaiah 41:10, it has strengtened me in heartache and in health issues.

Thanks, Angela for leading this bible study, thanks for all your studying.

Thanks for encouraging us to participate and discuss!! It really does help to reflect on other's comments as well as the text itself!!

Verse 25 is such a great prayer when our time in the Word feels dry and empty...recently for me it has been so hard to manage my time and be able to consistently do anything other than rest, but I know if I can just manage to take a few minutes to pray and open God's word that he will strengthen me and give me peace and rest!!

A verse that has strengthened me is Micah 7:18-20. I discovered these verses when I was pregnant with my son Micah and was going through some really dark times. It is so encouraging to know confidently God's character and love for us through his word and know that he is always faithful to those who love him!